October 16, 2000
Ruth Kirschstein, M.D., principal deputy director of the National Institutes of Health, has appointed Griffin P. Rodgers, M.D., deputy director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), effective January 1, 2001. He replaces L. Earl Laurence, who is retiring as NIDDK's deputy. Laurence has worked at NIH since 1961.
In making the announcement at the September meeting of the National Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases Advisory Council at the NIH, Allen M. Spiegel, M.D., NIDDK's director, called Rodgers "an outstanding clinical scientist and molecular hematologist. He has made singular contributions to the study of globin disorders." Internationally recognized, Rodgers has advanced development of treatments for sickle cell anemia and other genetic diseases that affect hemoglobin, the main component of red blood cells.
As deputy director, Rodgers will work with Spiegel to provide scientific leadership and to manage a staff of 900 employees and a $1 billion budget. More than 90 percent of the Institute's budget funds researchers at medical centers, universities, and laboratories throughout the United States. The grantees study diabetes, nutrition, and endocrine, metabolic, digestive, kidney, urologic, and hematologic diseases. NIDDK also supports Institute scientists who conduct basic and clinical research at its facilities on the NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland, and in Phoenix, Arizona.
Spiegel and Rodgers plan to expand public outreach and education efforts, particularly in disease prevention and management, improve clinical trial oversight, and provide more training opportunities for basic researchers and physician-scientists. "Rarely is a physician-scientist given the opportunity to ascend from the narrow confines of an individual research focus to the broader concerns affecting a larger segment of society," says Rodgers. "I am deeply honored to be entrusted with this position and look forward to its challenges and opportunities."
In addition to his new duties, Rodgers will function as chief of NIDDK's Clinical and Molecular Hematology Branch, which he has headed since 1998, and will continue his research on sickle cell anemia, thalassemias, and other disorders of blood cells. In 1993, Rodgers led a joint study by NIDDK, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, and the Johns Hopkins Medical School that showed how recombinant erythropoietin and an iron supplement could be used to boost hydroxyurea's effectiveness in sickle cell patients.
In earlier work, Rodgers and his collaborators had shown that hydroxyurea boosts the patients' levels of fetal and total hemoglobin thus alleviating their anemia, pain, and other debilitating symptoms. Now, he and his colleagues are doing studies to learn at what minimal dose erythropoietin, a costly medicine, can still be effective with hydroxyurea. With collaborators in the United States, China, Thailand, Israel, Greece, and Italy, Rodgers also is evaluating hydroxyurea's potential in thalassemia treatment.
During his tenure at NIH, Rodgers has earned several honors. In June, he received an Arthur S. Flemming Award, an honor reserved for outstanding Federal employees with fewer than 15 years of service. Rodgers received the award, which was created in 1948 by the Jaycees, in the science category. He was cited for his work on sickle cell anemia and for other discoveries related to blood disorders. Other awards include the 1999 Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Award of the American College of Physicians, the 1998 Meritorious Achievement Award of the National Medical Association, and Physician-Researcher (1997) and Hildrus A. Poindexter (1995) Awards of the Public Health Service.
At NIH, Rodgers has served on many committees, including the Board of Tutors for the Clinical Research Training Program, the Board of Governors of NIH's Clinical Center, and the joint Institutional Review Board (IRB) for NIDDK and the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, which protects the rights and welfare of people who are research subjects.
Rodgers, who is from New Orleans, received his undergraduate, graduate, and medical degrees from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. He was an intern, resident, and chief resident in internal medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. In 1982, he joined NIDDK as a research fellow, and has been a member of the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps since 1989.
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